NAVAIR graduated 71 participants from its Senior Executive Management Development Program/NAVAIR Leadership Development Program during a command-wide video teleconferencing ceremony Dec. 4 in the Rear Adm. William A. Moffett Building, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

“We usually think of graduations happening at the turn of summer when the sun’s a little warmer and the grass is a little greener,” said NAVAIR Commander, Vice Adm. David Venlet, the keynote speaker. “But today’s ceremony proves to us that we can harvest a crop of tremendous leaders even during the winter.”

Venlet noted that “These days, there’s a lot of talk about investments – which ones are risky and which ones will pay off. But make no mistake,” he said, “investments in people pay off.”

The Senior Executive Management Development Program (SEMDP) was created in 1980 as a flagship leadership development program. The flexible program allows participants three to five years of part-time work to complete course requirements. Those requirements include executive leadership training and career development, contemporary leadership issues and practices and seminars on national security and congressional issues. The program also includes mentoring and a six-month rotational assignment.

The NAVAIR Leadership Development Program (NLDP) retains many of the core leadership courses offered in SEMDP, adding Continuous Process Improvement training and certification.

In remarks opening the ceremony, NAVAIR Assistant Commander for Corporate Operations Gary Kurtz encouraged the graduates to continue their education, professional growth and leadership development. He urged them to “not look at the completion of your SEMDP/NLDP Program as an ending, but as the end of a new beginning.”

He cited Albert Einstein’s views on the importance of continued study: “Never regard study as a duty,” Einstein said, “but as the enviable opportunity to learn for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.”

Venlet challenged the graduates to “put your preparation to the test: Focus on external results. Dive into managing risk. Collaborate with other competencies and teams from our different sites, and other services and industries.”

He also reminded them to “understand your responsibility to mentor those growing up behind you. Reach out your hand; lift another up behind you.”

NLDP was created in 2005 with the merger of SEMDP and AIRSpeed Black Belt training. NLDP retains the critical leadership learning of SEMDP, while adding the vital productivity learning of an AIRSpeed Black Belt to better prepare participants for future leadership roles.

For more information about NLDP/SEMDP, go to the Career Development Community of Interest page on MyNAVAIR, https://mynavair.navair.navy.mil.

Following are the 2008 NLDP/SEMDP graduates listed by site and competency:

Name Competency Site
Harris, Garon 5.3 China Lake
*Wojciehowski, Joanna 7.2 China Lake
Batson, Lorenda 4.1 FRC East
Dunkel, Robin 6.8 FRC East
Padgett, Angela 4.1 FRC East
*Stone, Michelle 4.4 FRC East
Whitehurst, John 6.1 FRC East
*Ludlam, Kevin 4.5 FRC Southeast
*Martin, Karl 4.3 FRC Southeast
Mobley, Bruce 6.3 FRC Southeast
*Domingo, Duane 4.4 FRC Southwest
*Goldberg, Scott 4.3 FRC Southwest
*Shelley, Carl 4.4 FRC Southwest
*Barclay, Mark 4.8 Lakehurst
Espinoza, Gilbert 6.7 Lakehurst
*Klein, Heidi 6.8 Lakehurst
*Shah, Tahir 4.8 Lakehurst
*Stapleton, Scott 4.8 Lakehurst
Arblaster, Alan 2.5 Orlando
*Blind, MaryAnn PhD 4.6 Orlando
*Bostick, Amy B. 7.1 Orlando
*Campos, Roxy 2.5 Orlando
Dibella, Joseph 7.2 Orlando
Meaney, Patricia 7.8 Orlando
*Meaney, Michael 7.1 Orlando
Nguyen, Canh-Nhan 4L2 Point Mugu
*Purdy, David 5.3 Point Mugu
Van Splinter, Gregg 5.3 Point Mugu
*Anderson, Brian 5.2 Pax River
*Arnason, Pall 6.6 Pax River
Baden, James D. PEO(A) Pax River
*Badia, Eileen 6.8 Pax River
Bogdan, Kenneth 4.1 Pax River
Butler, Patricia 1.0 Pax River
*Carey, Joel 10.0 Pax River
*Carr, Timothy M. 4.1 Pax River
Collier, Karen 2.4 Pax River
*Craft, Robert 5.2 Pax River
*DeNinno, Shane 1.0 Pax River
Donovan, Mary 2.2 Pax River
Dziewit, Paul 4.1 Pax River
*Earnshaw, Kimberly 7.3 Pax River
Even, Sondra 1.0 Pax River
*Fisher, Roy 6.2 Pax River
Galletti, Holli 1.0 Pax River
Gilp, Brian 4.9 Pax River
Gomes, Michael 4.1 Pax River
*Greissinger, James 4.4 Pax River
Hall, Bradley 4.1 Pax River
Hamric, Sonja 6.8 FRC East
Harris, Roy 4.2 Pax River
*Jaffee, Michael 4.6 Pax River
*Jodoin, Timothy 5.4 Pax River
*Keeney, Cindy 5.4 Pax River
Kolman, Carol 4.0 Pax River
Lucarelli, Louis 7.2 Pax River
Lyons, Christopher 2.0 Pax River
Mazzone, Darlene 6.6 Pax River
*McDonald, William PEO(T) Pax River
Moran, Tracy B. 6.6 Pax River
Murree, Deidre M. 2.0 Pax River
Nesmith, Kathryn 4.3 Pax River
Phalen, Mitzi 11.0 Pax River
Pope, Jonathan 4.1 Pax River
Smetana, Ann 2.3 Pax River
Somerville, Adrienne 2.0D Pax River
Stefano, Robert 5.1 Pax River
Swift, Kristin 4.0 Pax River
Swyter, Malyna PEO(U&W) Pax River
*Vargo, Toni 7.2 Pax River
Worcester, Cynthia 7.3 Pax River

* NLDP graduate

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SEMDP/NLDP graduates who attended the ceremony at NAVAIR’s NAS Patuxent River headquarters.

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Vice Adm. David J. Venlet, NAVAIR Commander, delivers the keynote speech to the graduates.

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Audience in the Moffett Building at NAS Patuxent River applauds the new graduates.

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Chantay Cook of the Naval Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program sings the National Anthem. Looking on are (L-R) Gary Kurtz, Assistant Commander, Corporate Operations, Vice Adm. David J. Venlet, NAVAIR Commander, and Pamela Jamieson, Director, Career Development Office